Geochronology and Nd isotopic data of Grenville-age rocks in the Colombian Andes: new constraints for late Proterozoic Early Paleozoic paleocontinental reconstructions of the Americas

New U-Pb zircon crystallization ages and 40Ar/39Ar cooling ages from the Colombian Andes confirm the existence of rocks metamorphosed during the Orinoquian Orogenic Event (ca. 1.0 Ga) of northern South America. epsilon(Nd) (t = 1.1 Ga) for these rocks range from -3.9 to +0.91, which is interpreted as a mixture of Late Archean-Early Proterozoic crust with juvenile material produced during the 1.1 Ga orogenic event. The Colombian Grenville age rocks are part of a much longer metamorphic pericratonal belt, sporadically exposed along the Andes, in western-central Peru, southern Bolivia and northern Argentina. In addition, Nd model (T-DM) ages for the Colombian rocks range from 1.9 to 1.45 Ga, similar to those obtained in the Grenville Province of the eastern U.S. and in the Mexican basement, placing constraints on Late Proterozoic-Early Paleozoic paleocontinental reconstructions. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.